The claiming of sleeping beauty.

253 pages

English language

Published 1987 by Futura.

(1 review)

In the traditional folktale of "Sleeping Beauty," the spell cast upon the lovely young princess and everyone in her castle can only be broken by the kiss of a Prince. It is an ancient story, one that originally emerged from and still deeply disturbs the mind's unconscious. In the first book of the trilogy, Anne Rice, writing as A.N. Roquelaure, retells the Beauty story and probes the unspoken implications of this lush, suggestive tale by exploring its undeniable connection to sexual desire. Here the Prince awakens Beauty, not with a kiss, but with sexual initiation. His reward for ending the hundred years of enchantment is Beauty's complete and total enslavement to him . . . as Anne Rice explores the world of erotic yearning and fantasy in a classic that becomes, with her skillful pen, a compelling experience. Readers of Fifty Shades of Grey will indulge in Rice’s deft storytelling …

In the traditional folktale of "Sleeping Beauty," the spell cast upon the lovely young princess and everyone in her castle can only be broken by the kiss of a Prince. It is an ancient story, one that originally emerged from and still deeply disturbs the mind's unconscious. In the first book of the trilogy, Anne Rice, writing as A.N. Roquelaure, retells the Beauty story and probes the unspoken implications of this lush, suggestive tale by exploring its undeniable connection to sexual desire. Here the Prince awakens Beauty, not with a kiss, but with sexual initiation. His reward for ending the hundred years of enchantment is Beauty's complete and total enslavement to him . . . as Anne Rice explores the world of erotic yearning and fantasy in a classic that becomes, with her skillful pen, a compelling experience. Readers of Fifty Shades of Grey will indulge in Rice’s deft storytelling and imaginative eroticism, a sure-to-be classic for years to come. (source)

22 editions

coral reviewed The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by Anne Rice (The Sleeping Beauty Series, #1)

None

1 star

So much not my thing.

This book, which is nominally "BDSM erotica"—I have yet to determine whether BDSM erotica might be my thing or not, because so much of it is so bad—is really just a series of extended rape scenes, interspersed with violence. Some of the scenes of violence are probably legitimate depictions of BDSM scenes, give or take the concept of "consent"; but others are outright beatings. Much of what is described would lead to serious injury, and some of it would lead to permanent disfigurement.

I really did not enjoy [b:The Marketplace|125466|The Marketplace (The Marketplace, #1)|Laura Antoniou|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1366550095s/125466.jpg|120835], which people point to as the other foundational book/series in the genre, along with this one, but at least the participants in that story have all agreed to be there, and the depictions of their brutalization are realistic. As a contrast, every submissive in Beauty has been captured or …

So much not my thing.

This book, which is nominally "BDSM erotica"—I have yet to determine whether BDSM erotica might be my thing or not, because so much of it is so bad—is really just a series of extended rape scenes, interspersed with violence. Some of the scenes of violence are probably legitimate depictions of BDSM scenes, give or take the concept of "consent"; but others are outright beatings. Much of what is described would lead to serious injury, and some of it would lead to permanent disfigurement.

I really did not enjoy [b:The Marketplace|125466|The Marketplace (The Marketplace, #1)|Laura Antoniou|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1366550095s/125466.jpg|120835], which people point to as the other foundational book/series in the genre, along with this one, but at least the participants in that story have all agreed to be there, and the depictions of their brutalization are realistic. As a contrast, every submissive in Beauty has been captured or given by their kingdom as "tribute"; none of them are volunteers. None have given consent. It's disgusting and deeply upsetting, not erotic at all.